Hello and welcome to The Marketing Blog. My name is Michael Fleischner and this blog has been developed to share my more than 14 years of Marketing experience with anyone interested in learning more about marketing or Internet marketing. The Marketing Blog markets marketing simple and covers all aspects of marketing with a particular focus on internet marketing.

Monday, November 24, 2008

What's the fastest, simplest and cheapest way to promote just about any business? The answer is postcards sent by direct mail. You can get your message to a targeted group of prospects or to your existing customers for a cost of about 25 to 30 cents each including postage. You can actually send someone a postcard every 30 days for only three dollars a year. You can generate leads, create sales, ask prospects to give you a try or convince existing customers to buy more or buy more often.

What are the 2 biggest secrets of marketing with postcards?

1. Regular, repeated mailings are the way to create big predictable results. When you mail every 30 days for a year you will cause a dramatic growth in your business. People respond to repetition. If you are a parent you know how hard it is to refuse repeated requests for a cookie or a desperately wanted toy. If you are not a parent, I'm sure you remember asking, even begging for a toy, treat or permission to stay up past your bedtime until your parents finally gave in. Your customers and prospective customers are similar. They need to be asked repeatedly too.

2. There are really only 4 reasons people don't buy your products and services. Look at your own buying behavior and see for yourself if you believe me when I tell you these 4 apply to you too.

a) No need.

When people don't buy from you, it's because they don't want what you are offering. They may need what you are offering and not know or acknowledge that need, but the bottom line is they don't want it. Save lots of time, effort and money by targeting your postcard mailings to groups of people who have demonstrated they want your product or service or one's similar to yours and then mail to them. Follow at least this one piece of advice and become more profitable immediately.

Examples of those who have demonstrated they want your products and services are:1. your own customers,2. your competitor's customers and3. people who have bought products and services which your products and services supplement or complement.

Target your marketing. Promote your business exclusively to people likely to have a strong desire for the benefits provided by your product or service.

b) No money

Businesses and consumers don't usually avoid purchases because they don't have or can't get the money necessary to purchase. They usually don't buy because they decide buying something else is more important to them (like food). You can get them to buy from you by making it clear to them that buying your product or service will get rid of something they don't want or will get them something they do want or will get them more of something they already have that they like having.

It is your job to get your people and businesses to see that your products and services give or get them what they really want. Consumers and businesses rarely avoid buying something because they don't have (or can't get) the money needed to make the purchase. They avoid buying what you offer because they place a higher priority on spending money for something else. What is the most nagging problem you can solve for prospects in your targeted market? Make it real to them how they'll feel when your product or service eliminates that problem. Use postcards to communicate how they can get their problem solved.

c) No hurry

People tend to drag their feet after they decide to buy something. The longer they wait to purchase the more likely they are to forget why your product or service is valuable or even absolutely necessary to them. Keep your message in front of them with repetitive mailings. If you don't...You'll lose the business.

The reason repetitive mailings are so effective is that they remind your customers and prospects of what they are missing by not having your product or service working for them in their life. You can avoid losing sales because of "no hurry" by rewarding customers for taking immediate action and penalizing those who don't. For example, offer a special discount price or a special bonus for ordering before a deadline. Do repetitive mailings to targeted customers and prospects and you will make more sales.

d) No trust

Most people's fear of losing something is a bigger concern than getting something that they want. This fear causes them to frequently avoid buying something they truly want. They don't want to buy and then find out that your product or service won't solve their problem. They don't want to be or even feel ripped off or still at a loss over the solution to their problem. You must take away their risk in doing business with you. You must provide a way that they can "trust" you. If you don't they won't buy and you will lose business.

Most peoples' fear of losing something is a bigger concern than getting something that they want. This fear causes them to frequently avoid buying something they truly want. They don't want to buy and then find out that your product or service won't solve their problem. They don't want to be ripped off, feel cheated or even feel at a loss for not getting a solution to their problem. You must take away their risk in doing business with you.

You must provide a way that they can "trust" you. If you don't they won't buy and you will lose business. 1. Eliminate the risk with an unconditional money back guarantee. 2. Give them testimonials from satisfied customers and/or provide references that prove the quality and reliability of your product or service. 3. Make it easy for your prospects and customers to communicate with you and get their questions and concerns answered. Let them see you and your business are real and that you value getting and keeping their trust and present and future business. These are really the only 4 reasons why people don't buy from you.

You can increase your sales and profits by knowing them and doing everything you can to mail your postcards to the people and businesses most likely to want and benefit from your products and services, make it clear to them how valuable the benefits of your products and services are to them, get them to see the urgency of getting the value of your products and services now and finally that they can trust you to help them get the benefits you promised your products and services would give them. When you do all these things, guess what? People will buy from you like crazy.

Postcards are a perfect low cost medium to overcome the 4 reasons people don't buy from you. Use postcards in repetitive mailings and make your business soar.

This post provided by Joy Gendusa. Using a powerful, simple, extremely cost effective way of communicating with customers has earned Joy Gendusa Inc. Magazine's recognition as the nation's fastest growing direct mail postcard-marketing firm with year 2007 revenues close to $19,000,000. Gendusa began in 1998 with zero investment capital. Today, her Clearwater, FL firm called PostcardMania, employs over 150 people and prints 4 million and mails 2 million postcards representing 31,000-plus customers in over 350 industries each week. Visit at www.PostcardMania.com